Des Moines Register: With the caucuses about a month away, Iowa has already been drenched with nearly as much political ad spending as it saw throughout the 2016 cycle. More than $45 million worth of political advertising has targeted Iowans so far, or is already reserved for January and February, according to a detailed mid-December breakdown from ad tracker Advertising Analytics. In the entire 2016 cycle, when both Democrats and Republicans had competitive fights, political groups spent $46.3 million on Iowa television airwaves, according to Iowa State University professor Jay Newell.